Parish working to help local flood victims

Terrebonne Parish government is working to help families whose homes were flooded during the rainstorm spun off of Hurricane Harvey.

But these displaced people are wondering why they weren't helped earlier.

Four homes on Hidalgo Drive flooded during the rainstorm. The families whose homes were flooded came forward at last Monday's Parish Council meeting to find out why the flooding occurred and what is going to be done.

"What are we going to do if our homes flood all the time? This isn't the first time it's happened. I have no money to go nowhere else. We don't have money to up and move. What's going to happen to us?" asked Lori Elderton.

Councilman Al Marmande said he believed the problem is a two-fold issue. One is because Hidalgo Drive is too far away from the pumps and the other is because of trash and garbage that is being illegally dumped in the ditches that funnel water to the pumps.

"I know for a fact that somebody is dumping a lot of junk into the ditches and clogging up the pumps. People will call me and tell me the pumps aren't on, but they are on. I'll go out there and see all sorts of junk," Marmande said.

Marmande said on multiple occasions he's found things like hot water heaters, mattresses and ice chests in culverts or ditches leading to the pumps. Parish President Gordy Dove also confirmed that public works employees have cleared out debris and trash from the ditches in the area.

"I went walking to the pumps just yesterday and someone had thrown a whole wooden crate and it was stopping up the culvert," Dove said. "Public Works had just cleaned it out a little while ago. Someone's dumping in that ditch."

Dove said officials are hoping to close off a road that no one uses where a majority of the dumping is occurring. He addedd he has asked residents in the area to write down license plate numbers of anyone who is dumping and report it to the police or parish government. He also said not to confront the dumpers because he doesn't want anyone getting hurt.

However, Elderton said she wonders why the parish waited until after their homes flooded to do something if they knew the dumping was causing a problem.

According to Dove, the families have been put up in hotels and the parish is working to help them.

"What we're trying to do is get a grant so that they can be elevated or get a federal government buyout for them," Dove said. "I'm sorry to the families who got water in their house. We hope to stop that and help them now."

-- Staff Writer Dan Boudreaux can be reached at 857-2204 or dan.boudreaux@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_boudreaux.